3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Hitters to Avoid on 4/22/16

As is the case in most daily fantasy sports, finding information on players you might want to roster is a lot easier than finding players to avoid.

As is the case in most daily fantasy sports, finding information on players you might want to roster is a lot easier than finding players to avoid.

While you can get away with a zero from a hitter in daily fantasy, you certainly don't want to target guys whose matchups aren't enticing.

Here are three hitters you may want to lessen your exposure to or even fade altogether on Friday.

Mike Trout, OF, Los Angeles Angels

FanDuel Price: $4,600

Mike Trout took a big step in busting out of his early-season slump last night with a big home run. However, tonight things will be much different against the King, Felix Hernandez. Trout’s home run last night was off of a left-hander, John Danks, and now, he has to go up against one of the toughest right-handed pitchers in the game. His home run might lead more people to roster him tonight, but that also might make him more of a landmine.

Trout has struggled against righties to start the season. His wOBA against right-handed pitchers is only .338, and his strikeout rate is currently 30.8 percent. While this is nowhere near his career averages against right-handers, it’s concerning for a superstar going through a slump. Even though Trout has done very well against Hernandez during his career, he also owns a strikeout rate of 32.3 percent against him.

Hernandez, on the other hand, is off to yet another solid start, especially against right-handed hitters. Right-handed hitters own a wOBA of only .169 against Hernandez so far to start the season, which is well on the way to continuing his solid wOBA against right-handers of .274 during his career.

Jay Bruce, OF, Cincinnati Reds

FanDuel Price: $4,100

The Reds are fresh off getting no hit by Jake Arrieta, and things probably won’t get much easier tonight against Jon Lester, especially for the Reds’ left-handed hitters. Jay Bruce has been blossoming over the last year or so, and tonight, his odds of having a big game for DFS owners tonight are slim.

Bruce is hitting just .150 off lefties this season, and his career wOBA against left-handed pitching is only .311. His ISO drops to .193 against lefties during his career, and his career hard hit rate against lefties drops to 30.1 percent from 35.9 percent against right-handed pitching. Last season was even worse for Bruce against lefties, as he posted a hard hit rate of only 28.7 percent and a fly ball rate of 37.2 percent compared to a fly ball rate of 47.1 percent against righties.

Lester has continued his dominance against left-handed hitters this season. He has faced 20 left-handed hitters this season, and they have a combined wOBA of .167 against him. Lester owns a 24.3 percent strikeout rate against left-handers throughout his career, and last season, his strikeout rate against lefties was 28 percent.

Lester has also owned Great American Ball Park in his career. Even though it is only two starts, Lester has held the Reds to a .167 average there, and his strikeout rate when he has pitched in Cincinnati is an amazing 39.5 percent. Bruce might wear the brunt of that dominance tonight.

Joe Mauer, 1B, Minnesota Twins

FanDuel Price: $3200

Another lefty who has a tougher matchup this evening is Joe Mauer, who faces Gio Gonzalez. Gonzalez has been lights out to start the season, especially against left-handed hitters. Gonzalez has only faced 12 lefties so far this season, but he has yet to give up a hit, and their wOBA against him this season is just .115.

Compare that to his career numbers, and it doesn’t get much better for lefties. Lefties have a wOBA of just .299 against Gonzalez during his career, and last season, it got even better at .281. Lefties’ fly ball rate was only 24 percent against Gonzalez last season as well.

Mauer has a career hard hit rate of 29.1 percent against left-handed pitchers, and his fly ball rate is 21.4 percent, compared to 27.4 percent against righties. Mauer has had some nice games in his game log over the last week, but it has been really dependent on his walks. He has walked eight times in the Twins’ last five games, and Gonzalez simply does not walk lefties. Last season, his walk rate against them was just 5.9 percent, compared to his season average of 9.1 percent.